42 Super-Interesting Random Facts That Are Too Awesome To Ignore | Random List #90

Venomous and poisonous are different. If you bite it and die, it is poisonous. If it bites you and you die, it is venomous.

27. The 1960s Japanese TV series The Samurai became very popular in Australia. After few episodes were shown on Australian TV in 1964, viewer demand led to the entire series being shown. It became the most popular show on TCN9 at that time and when the series star arrived in Melbourne, he was met by thousands of fans, many in costume.

28. Scientists have managed to recreate the 1918 flu from a victim found in the Alaskan permafrost. Monkeys infected with the flu strain had classic symptoms of the 1918 pandemic and died from a cytokine storm - an overreaction of the immune system. This has helped science understand why healthy individuals died from the flu.

29. The duck-billed platypus has a gene mix of birds, reptiles, and mammals and genetically has 25 possible sexes.

30. Government Agencies have calculated what an average citizen's life is worth. For example, the US Department of Transportation values a life at $9.6 million as of 2016.

Olympic gold medals are actually made of silver. 1912 was the last Olympics to hand out solid gold medals. Today's gold medals are 92.5% silver.

32. Claims that red wine can help prevent heart disease are inconclusive at best, and at worst may lead people to drink more alcohol in pursuit of the health "benefits".

33. Steven Spielberg is responsible for the PG-13 rating. He suggested it after parents complained about the PG rating given to 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'. Three months later, 'Red Dawn' became the first release rated PG-13.

34. The word 'bald' in 'bald eagle' has nothing to do with the definition as a lack of hair. Rather, the term bald eagle is derived in English from the word 'piebald', in reference to their white heads and tail feathers in contrast to the darker color of the rest of their bodies.

35. Roberto Gómez Bolaños, the inspiration for the Simpsons Bumblebee Man, is so popular that reruns of his show ' El Chavo del Ocho' from the 1970s-80s still get an average of 91 million daily viewers around the globe.

During the Greek War of Independence, 115 Greek revolutionaries surrounded by 10,000 Ottoman troops managed to kill 300 and wound 800 while suffering just 6 casualties. When the Ottomans paused their attack to get cannons ready, the Greeks escaped through enemy lines undetected.

37. The Mason bees are solitary, are easy to farm to use as pollinators and rarely sting (and even if they do it is not painful).

38. During the 80 Years War, the Dutch defeated the invading Spanish by flooding their cities and farmlands. When winter arrived, Dutch soldiers used ice skates to quickly advance, fire muskets and retreat quickly to reload. The Spanish were then lured to, and fell through thin ice.

39. Charles Kuentz fought for the Germans during World War 1 but became a French citizen after his homeland, Alsace-Lorraine, was taken back by France after the war. When France surrendered to Germany in 1940 he became a German citizen until the fall of the Third Reich which again made him a French citizen.

40. When Intel employee Bill Gaede offered rival AMD stolen company secrets in 1995, rather than taking the opportunity to get ahead, they informed Intel and the authorities, leading to his arrest.

M&M stands for Mars and Murrie, the names of its founders.

42. In 2005, in an effort to demonstrate time dilation, a father and his kids drove three atomic clocks up Mt. Rainier. The measured effect was just over 20 nanoseconds, matching Einstein's theory of relativity.